THE  LIBRARY  OF  THE 
UNIVERSITY  OF 
NORTH  CAROLINA 


ENDOWED  BY  THE 
DIALECTIC  AND  PHILANTHROPIC 
SOCIETIES 


PS  1769 
.H7 

1877 


00008654529 


This  book  is  due  at  the  WALTER  R.  DAVIS  LIBRARY  on 
the  last  date  stamped  under  "Date  Due."  If  not  on  hold  it 
may  be  renewed  by  bringing  it  to  the  library. 


DATE  RET 
DUE  RET- 

DATE  RET 
DUE  RET- 

*■ 


UNCI 


far? 


SILENCE. 


BY 

S.  MILLER  HAGEMAN, 

Princeton,  N.  J, 


TENTH  EDITION. 


BROOKLYN,  L.  I : 
PUBLISHED  BY  D.  S.  HOLMES, 
89  FOURTH  ST. 


COFVTIGHT, 
l876, 

By  Dodd,  Mead  &  Company. 


TO 


THE  MEMORY 

OF 

MY  MOTHER. 


WHAT  THE  GREAT  POETS  AND  AUTHORS  OF  THE  WORLD 
SAY  OF  "  SILENCE." 


"  Full  of  fine  imagination." 

Henry  W.  Longfellow. 
<:  Silence  is  a  beautiful  poem.    It  has  many  passages  noteworthy  for 
thought  and  expression,  which  have  stamped  themselves  on  my  memory 
at  first  reading." 

John  Greenleaf  Whittier. 

"  The  poem  on  Silence  has  impressed  me  by  its  fertility  of  fancy  and 
affluence  of  illustration.  Its  author  has  brought  to  it  a  fine  poetic  enthu- 
siasm which  is  felt  in  every  stanza,  and  which  in  other  hands  would  have 
yielded  but  meager  results  " 

W.  Cullen  Bryant. 

"  Silence  has  afforded  me  great  pleasure  in  reading  it." 

Oliver  Wendell  Holmes. 

"  I  have  read  the  poem  more  than  once,  with  interest  and  admiration. 
I  congratulate  the  author  on  the  beauty  of  his  work." 

Jean  Ingelow. 

"I  have  read  Silence  with  very  great  pleasure,  and  am  much  struck 
by  the  beauty  of  many  of  them." 

The  Duke  of  Argyll. 

''Your  book  of  poems  demands  my  most  distinguished  considera- 
tion.'' 

Alphonzo  XII,  King  of  Spain. 
"  I  have  had  great  pleasure  in  reading  it." 

Dom  Pedro. 

"Her  Majesty  the  Queen  has  been  graciously  pleased  to  accept  the 
poem,  entitled  Silence,  and  commands  that  her  thanks  be  sent  to  the  au- 
thor." 

Queen  Victoria,  (through  her  Secretary.) 
"  Silence  is  a  poem  of  great  poetical  beauty." 

James  McCosh. 
Pres.  of  Princeton  College. 

Letters  from  Charles  Spurgeon,  Disraeli,  Lord  Derby,  Gladstone,  and 
almost  all  the  noted  foreign  authors,  as  well  as  American,  have  been  re- 
ceived, speaking  most  highly  of  this  beautiful  poem,  besides  the  most 
flattering  reviews  from  all  the  American  and  foreign  papers. 


PROEM. 

THE  FORTY-SIXTH  PSALM.      A  TRUE  TRANSLATION. 


GOD  is  our  refuge  and  strength  ; 
Found  thoroughly  a  help  in  troubles. 
Therefore   will   not   we   fear   though  the 

earth  should  change, 
And  the  mountains  rock  like  the  midst  of 

the  seas. 
Let  its  floods  moan  and  boil ; 
Let  the  mountains  toss  as  its  crest. 
It  shall  be   a   river  the  streams  whereot 

shall  glad  the  city  of  God : 


6  PROEM, 

It  shall  be  the  holiest  of  the  dwellings  of 

the  Most  High. 
God  is  in  the  midst  of  her.    She  shall  not 

be  rocked  in  waves. 
God  shall  help  her  at  the  turning  of  the 

morning. 

The  nations  moan.    The  kingdoms  rock. 
He  utters  his  voice.    The  earth  melts. 
Be  still ;  and  know  that  I  am  God  ! 


SILENCE. 


Slowly  climb  the  moon-touched  moun- 
tains up  their  stairway  to  the  sky, 

Slowly  each  white  cloud  ascending,  seems 
a  soul,  that  passed  on  high  : 

Summit  billowing  after  summit  higher  and 
still  higher  grow, 

Till  they  break  in  awful  Silence  on  a  glit- 
tering strand  of  snow. 


8 


SILENCE. 


TT 

Silent  cataract  of  summits,  stiffened  on 
thy  frozen  verge, 

Leaping  in  tumultuous  silence  to  thy 
adamantine  surge  : 

Motionless,  yet  grandly  moving,  seems  thy 
avalanche  of  stone. 

Silence !  Be  thou  everlasting,  on  thy  soli- 
tary throne. 


SILENCE, 


9 


III. 

At  thy  base,  the  swirling  river  chatters 
idly  to  the  clod, 

At  thy  brow,  thy  head  is  lifted  through 
the  cloud  to  talk  with  God : 

Prophet-like,  with  mantle  folded  round  thy 
dread  and  spectral  form, 

Far  below  thee  screams  the  eagle,  far  be- 
low thee  raves  the  storm. 


10 


SILENCE. 


IV. 

Often  in  my  early  fancy  had  I  roved  in 

search  of  rest, 
As  the  southern  bird  at  springtime,  seeks 

afar  its  northern  nest ; 
Often  in  my  elder  yearning  had  I  dreamed 

within  me  deep, 
Of  that  high  repose  that  evei   lies  upon 

the  soul  like  sleep. 


SILENCE. 


II 


Of  a  sweet  and  tender  silence,  that  should 

soothe  each  aching  sound, 
As    the     snow     within     the  church-yard 

marbles  every  aching  mound  : 
Where  the  soul  should  find  its  footing  in 

the  spiritual  rock, 
Like  a  lord  within  a  castle,  built  above 

the  billow's  shock. 


12 


SILENCE, 


VI. 

Not  in  vain  yon  towering  mountains,  that 

I  marked  your  silver  spires; 
Not  in  vain  yon  reddening  heavens,  fretted 

with  your  cresset-fires  : 
Torch  of  Nature,  thou  hast  led  me  from 

thy  summit  far  and  free, 
To   a   height    within    my   spirit   that  is 

grander  far  than  thee. 


SILENCE. 


13 


VII. 

Far    above    earths   transient   echoes,  far 

above  earth's  broken  sound, 
Domes   the   overarching    distance   of  the 

blue  receding  round  : 
Softly  as  the  world  grows  louder,  softly 

o'er  the  rising  din, 
Hear  the  great  white  Silence  open  like  a 

lily  on  the  lin. 


!4 


SILENCE. 


VIII. 

Greatness  lies  insphered  in  silence,  littleness 

to  sound  is  stirred, 
All   the  grandest  things  in   Nature  never 

have  been  seen  or  heard  : 
Proving  down   by  printless   logic  all  the 

science  of  the  school, 
Silence  is   the   law  of  being,  Sound,  the 

breaking  of  the  rule. 


SILENCE. 


IX. 

Wind   was   flourishing    its   trumpets,  but 

th'  embattled  air  is  still, 
Streams   were  roaring   down   the  gorges, 

they  have  thridded  to  a  rill; 
Thunder  rumbled  on  the  heaven,  but  its 

chariots  have  sped, 
Man  was   talking   to  his  fellow,  but  the 

man  grew  dumb — and  dead. 


6 


SILENCE. 


X. 

Every  sound  shall  end  in  silence,  but  the 

silence  never  dies, 
From  the  roar   of  swarming  cities,  from 

the  vague  of  peopled  skies; 
From  the  wind  and  from  the  forest,  from 

the  cliff  and  from  the  sea, 
Like   a   child   unto   its    mother,   all  thy 

sounds  come  back  to  thee. 


SILENCE. 


XL 

So,  like  her  who  bade  us  open  eyes  she 

yet  may  fix  in  death, 
Thou  hast    brought    us    into    being,  thou 

shalt  take  away  our  breath  ; 
Thou  art  Alpha  and  Omega,  for  a  world 

is  in  thy  womb, 
Thou  art  Alpha  and  Omega,  for  a  world 

is  in  thy  tomb. 


i8 


SILENCE. 


XII. 

Far    into    the  Past    I   wandered,  paused 

within  its  mellow  clime, 
Where  the   Lethean    years   were  crossing 

at  the  Jabbok-ford  of  Time; 
Felt  the  boundaries  of  being  sink  around 

me  into  space, 
Listened,  but  could  hear  no  echo,  looked, 

but  saw  nor  form  nor  face. 


SILENCE. 


19 


XIII. 

Shadows  of  the  ashen  ages,  ere  this  wreck- 
ing ark  of  earth 
Sailed  upon  the  soundless  ether,  round  the 

great  sun's  beaconing  hearth; 
When  the  circumfluent  Silence  washed  th 

cold  sphere  with  its  wave, 
When    man    lived   within   his  Maker, 
Christ  lived  within  the  grave. 


e 


as 


20 


SILENCE. 


XIV. 

Noiselessly,  the  round  Creation  slowly  rose 

into  its  place, 
Like  the  moon  at  night,  ascending  on  the 

star-sloped  stairs  of  space: 
To  its  walls  there  came  no  workman,  to 

its  towers  no  touch  of  hand, 
Without  sound,  like  some  great  palm-tree. 

spreading  over  sea  and  land. 


SILENCE. 


21 


XV. 

Strata  overleaping  strata  from  the  center 

to  the  crust, 
Rose,  Alp-high,  in  molten  silence,  as  the 

dead  rise  from  the  dust  ; 
Rounding    over   all   its   angles    softly  as 

creation's  call, 
Poising    on   its   noiseless    nothing,  spins 

this  intercipient  ball. 


22 


SILENCE. 


XVI. 

Noiselessly,  the  bright  procession  ol  the 
Seasons  rounds  in  sight, 

Thronging  up  the  deep  perspective  through 
the  minster-aisles  of  night ; 

Noiselessly,  the  light's  red  chrism  over- 
flows the  brim  of  space, 

Like  the  wine,  whose  blushing  colors  pur- 
ple in  the  chaliced  vase. 


SILENCE. 


23 


XVII. 

As  the  fingers  of  the   sunbeams   lift  the 

drapery  of  night, 
Soundlessly  its  forms   are   shaping  'neath 

the  touches  of  the  light ; 
And,  with  eloquence  unuttered,  speak  they 

to  the  listening  heart, 
As   the   traveler    softly    enters  Nature's 

gallery  of  Art. 


24 


SILENCE. 


XVIII. 

Rolls    the    glimmering    wheel    of  motion 

ever  without  clog  or  jar, 
In  the  orb,  and  in  the  ocean,  in  the  earth's 

incrusted  star  ; 
In  the  law  of  heat,  whose  lever  turns  the 

globe,  without  a  sound  ; 
In  the  law  of  gravitation,  holding  motion 

to  its  bound. 


SILENCE.  25 
XIX. 

Earth  is  but  the  frozen  echo  of  the  silent 

voice  of  God, 
Like    a    dewdrop    in    a  crystal  throbbing 

in  the  senseless  clod  : 
Silence  is  the  heart  of  all  things,  sound, 

the  fluttering  of  its  pulse, 
Which   the    fever  and  the  spasm  of  the 

Universe  convulse. 


26 


SILENCE. 


XX. 

Silence  is  the   incarnation   of  an  infinite 
idea, 

Kept   in    nature   by    a    process  that  we 

neither  see  nor  hear ; 
For  the   thought   of  God   eternal  cannot 

wholly  be  expressed, 
But  a  fading  arc  of  nature  rolls  in  light 

above  the  rest. 


SILENCE,  27 
XXI. 

Waveless  seas  are  softly  brewing  in  their 

continents  of  stone, 
On  whose  offing  tossing  shadows  of  white 

sails  shall  yet  be  thrown; 
Like   the   peace   that   passeth  knowledge 

shines  the  rainbow  in  the  rock, 
Perfect  shapes  we  proi  <ily  waiting  in  the 

unsuspected  block. 


28 


SILENCE. 


XXII. 

Solemn  spell  of  all  the  ages,  finger  on  the 

lip  of  God, 
Like  a  shout  of  nations  rising  back  to  him 

from  sea  and  sod  ; 
The  "  I  Am  "  of  the  Creator  well  opposed 

in  restful  life, 
To  the  "  I  Become  "  of  creature,  shuffling 

in  its  fitful  strife. 


SILENCE. 


29 


XXIII. 

Every  sound  that  breaks  the  silence  only 

makes  it  more  profound, 
Like  a  crash  of  deafening  thunder  in  the 

sweet  blue  stillness  drowned  ; 
Let  thy  soul  walk    softly    in    thee,   as  a 

saint  in  heaven  unshod, 
For  to  be  alone   with   Silence  is    to  be 

alone  with  God. 


3o 


SILENCE. 


XXIV. 

Swells  a  sound  upon  the  prairie,  roadly 

heaving  with  the  breeze, 
Tis  the  roaring   of  the  silence,  like  the 

roaring  of  the  seas; 
Breaking  out    on    that    vast   ocean    in  a 

seething  foam  of  flowers, 
Splashing  up  its  dripping  spray  of  sunlight 

through  the  dial-hours. 


SILENCE. 


3i 


XXV. 

Burn,  ye  stars  like  altar-candles,  round  the 

golden  throne  of  God  ; 
Bloom,  ye  flowers  like  fragrant  footprints, 

where  his  after-thoughts  have  trod; 
Steal,    oh     river   like    a    tear-drop  over 

Nature's  furrowed  cheek, 
For    there    is    no    speech — no  language, 

where  your  silence  does  not  speak. 


32 


SILENCE. 


XXVI. 

What  is  history?  Half-blown  Silence  lift- 
ing leaf  by  leaf  its  bud, 

Be  it  read  by  book  or  battle,  be  it 
traced  by  drops  of  blood ; 

Providence,  the  perfect  poem  of  a  God 
whose  name  is  Love, 

Set  on  earth  to  seeming  discord,  set  to 
music  far  above. 


SILENCE.  y 
XXVII. 

That  which   makes    the   things   that  are 

not  like  unto  the  things  that  are, 
That  which  makes  the  past  seem  present, 

bringing  near  the  dim— the  far; 
Wisps   a    waif  of   mellow  music   from  a 

long  forgotten  harp, 
Weaves  a  new  and  gorgeous  fashion  from 
a  faded  woof  and  warp. 
3 


34  SILENCE. 

XXVIII. 

Overlooks  a  distant  battle  in  the  evening 

of  the  day, 
Calls  the  roll  of  earth's  dead  cities,  hears 

them  start  up  from  the  clay; 
Strikes  a  sense    of  living  beauty  on  the 

scenes  that  are  no  more, 
Marks    the    ocean    of    oblivion    cast  its 
shells  upon  the  shore. 


SILENCE. 


35 


XXIX. 

Every    angel    in    his     chainless  freedom 

looks  upon  a  slave, 
Eveiy  star  that  shines  in  heaven  still  must 

shine  upon  a  grave  ; 
On  the  drift  my  feet  are  sliding,  and  my 

earthly  eyes  are  dust, 
Up  to  God  a  voice  I  lift,  in  some  such 

words  as  these — I  trust. 


36 


SILENCE. 


XXX. 

Voice  of  Silence,  thou  art  speaking  from 

the  Palace  of  the  past, 
On  whose  old  memoric  windows  faces  full 

of  life  are  cast ; 
Where  the  Kings  of  thought,  enthroned, 

like  a  star  on  midnight  peak, 
Rule   the    world  with  silent  spirits,  who, 

though  being  dead — yet  speak. 


SILENCE.  37 
XXXI. 

Voice  of  Silence,  thou  art  speaking  in  the 

apanage  of  art, 
In  the  mute,  electric  echoes  that  through 

air  and  ocean  dart  ; 
In  the  sunlight,  falling  on  us  like  God's 

shadow  passing  by, 
At  whose  touch  the  dead  are  looking  on 

us  with  a  life-like  eye. 


5S 


SILENCE. 


XXXII. 

Voice  of  Silence,  thou  art  speaking  from 

the  stone-sealed  lips  of  sleep, 
That,  without  a  sound  or  motion,   in  its 

spell  all  sound  doth  keep  ; 
In  whose  swaddling  clothes  enfolden  lie,  too 

pure  for  waking  sins, 
Cradled    in    a    mortal    creature,  Life  and 

Death,  like  sleeping  twins. 


SILENCE. 


39 


XXXIII. 

Voice  ot  Silence,  thou  art  speaking  in  the 

ministry  of  man, 
On  the  Nebo  of   remora,  prophet  to  an 

endless  plan  ; 
And,  by  silent  testimony,  and,  by  influence 

unheard, 

Doth  he  more  for  God  01  devil,  than  he 
doth  by  war  or  word. 


40 


SILENCE. 


XXXIV. 

Voice  of  Silence,  thou  art  speaking  on  the 

Patmos-isle  of  earth. 
Where    God's    reachless     revelations  rise 

unuttered  from  their  birth; 
Brightly,  like  a  burning   city,   flames  the 

sunset  in  the  sky, 
Through    whose    great  cathedral-window 

shines  the  City  built  on  high. 


SILENCE, 


41 


XXXV. 

Silence    on   the   pallid  face-cloth,  Silence 

on  the  snowy  grave, 
Silence  on  the  sleeping    city,  Silence  far 

below  the  wave  : 
Silence,  as  of  music  slumbering  on  her  harp 

within  the  deep, 
Sound  is  but  the  dream  of  Silence,  Silence 

talking  in  its  sleep. 


42 


SILENCE. 


XXXVI. 

Sound  is  but  the  rippling  shadow  of  the 
silence,  deep  and  grand, 

Silent  is  the  force  that  hideth  in  the 
sound  of  wheel  and  hand ; 

Silent  is  the  power  that  riots  in  the  tem- 
pest's wanton  might ; 

Just  behind  the  floating  storm-cloud  lies 
the  calm  eternal  light. 


SILENCE. 


43 


XXXVII. 

Faintly  on    the    solid   silence   comes  the 

carven  bust  of  Thought, 
Shadow   of  all    earthly   sculpture    by  an. 

artist  ever  wrought ; 
Without  sound,  and  without  touching,  felt 

to  form  it  stands  outlined, 
Solid  fact,  and  fine-grained  finish,  on  the 

marble  of  the  mind. 


44 


SILENCE, 


XXXVIII. 

Thus  it  was  that  as  I  wandered,  often,  on 
the  yellow  beach, 

Day  to  day  was  uttering  knowledge,  night 
to  night  was  showing  speech  : 

Till  the  stillness  grew  oppressive,  so  that 
when  I  left  the  spot, 

On  the  sounding  shore  the  ocean  thun- 
dered ;  but  I  heard  it  not. 


SILENCE. 


45 


XXXIX. 

In  the  spell  of  summer  evenings,  'neath 
the  light  of  mellow  moons, 

Glide  the  gondoliers  of  Venice  dimly  down 
the  blue  lagoons : 

O,  the  songs  that  melt  along  those  purl- 
ing streets  beyond  the  sea  ! 

O,  the  sweet  Italian  twilights !  O,  the 
land  of  Italy  ! 


46 


SILENCE. 


XL. 

Once,  my  heated  soul   was  looking  from 

the  window  of  its  hope, 
And  before    it    lay   life's   landscape  with 

the  sun  upon  the  slope : 
Far  I  leaned  into   the  Future,  from  the 

Old  into  the  New, 
But  my  breath  hath  blurred  the  glass,  and 

hid  the  vision  from  my  view. 


SILENCE. 


47 


XLI. 

Once,  my  pure  white  thoughts  lay  floating 

on  my  heart,  as  floats  the  flake 
Of  the  christened  water-lily  starred  upon 

the  crystal  lake : 
But  the  ice  of  tears  has  hardened  on  that 

crimson-crusted  stream, 
On  its  lilies,  crushed  and  shattered,  dead 

within  a  frozen  dream. 


48 


SILENCE. 


XLII. 

And    to-night,  when   stars   are  shivering 

coldly  to  the  darkened  slope, 
Still  a  soul    is    sadly    looking    from  the 

window  of  its  hope  ; 
Longing  in  its  gentle   grief  to  fly  away 

and  be  at  rest, 
Like  the  nightingale    complaining  to  the 

red  thorn  at  its  breast. 


SILENCE, 


49 


XLIII. 

Hear  a  broken  voice  within  thee  struggling 
with  the  perfect  will, 

Hush  it   in  the  strong  submission  of  thy 
spirit,  and  be  still  : 

Stillness,  in  which  thou  shalt  hear  the  fall- 
ing of  a  lifted  rod, 

Stillness,  in  which  thou  shalt  hear  the  full- 
orbed  whisper  of  a  God. 


5o 


SILENCE. 


XLIV. 

Then  it  was  my  heart,  affrighted,  fled  within 

me,  like  a  roe 
When  it  hears  the  arrow  hurtle  from  the 

Indian  hunter's  bow  ; 
Till  I  stood  beyond  the  sunset,  heard  the 

sounds  of  trouble  cease, 
Felt  the  stars,  God's  silent  whispers,  throb 

through  all  the  purple  peace. 


SILENCE. 


51 


XLV. 

Somewhere  on  this  moving  planet,  in  the 

mist  of  years  to  be, 
In  the  silence,    in    the   shadow,  waits  a 

loving  heart  for  thee; 
Somewhere    in    the     beckoning  heavens. 

where  they  know  as  they  are  known, 
Are  the  empty  arms  above  thee  that  shall 

clasp  thee  for  their  own. 


52 


SILENCE, 


XLVL 

Somewhere   in  the  far-off  silence,  I  shall 

feel  a  vanished  hand, 
Somewhere  I  shall  know  a  voice  that  now 

I  cannot  understand  ; 
Somewhere  !    Where  art  thou,  oh  spectre 

of  illimitable  Space  ? 
Silent    scene     without    a    shadow,  silent 

sphere  without  a  place. 


SILENCE. 


53 


XLVII. 

Conies  there  back    no    sound    beyond  us 

where  the  trackless  sunbeam  calls? 
Comes    there    back    no  wraith  of  music, 

melting  through  the  crystal  walls? 
Comes  there  back  no  bird,  to  lisp  us  of 

the  great  forevermore, 
With  a  leaf  of  Life,  unwithered,  plucked 

upon  the  farther  shore  ? 


54 


SILENCE. 


XLVIII. 

Why  are  they  so  strangely  silent,  are  they 

more  or  are  they  less? 
Are  their  spirits  lost  forever  in  the  vault 

of  nothingness? 
Why   yon   gates    of   pearl    so  fastened? 

why  yon  stirless  dead  so  dumb  ? 
What  has    o'er    those    silent  travelers  in 

the  march  of  Ages  come? 


SILENCE, 


55 


XLIX. 

Break,  O,  break  this  bitter  silence !  speak 

unto  me  once  again  ! 
Tell  me,  shall    I    e'er  behold  thee  ?  tell 

me,  do  I  wait  in  vain? 
O,    my   mother!    O,    my   mother!  Ship 

beneaped  on  foreign  shore, 
Answerless  the  air  around  me,  answerless 

forevermore. 


SILENCE. 


Tell  me,  O  yon  wind,  that  plashes  where 

the  wild  bird  hath  not  flown, 
On  what  strand  beyond  the  sunset  shall 

the  Soul's  white  sail  be  blown  ? 
Brightly    on    the    purple    upland  stream 

the  banners  of  the  sun, 
But    the     light     of    Nature    fadeth,  and 

another  day  is  done. 


SILENCE. 


57 


LI. 

I  remember,  as  the  shadows  darken  coldly 

to  the  past, 
One,  whose  beauty  could  but  linger,  one, 

whose  beauty  could  not  last  ; 
All  the  large  orb  of  her    spirit,  glowing 

in  its  central  sky, 
Slowly    faded    into    sunset,    through  the 

twilight  of  her  eye. 


SILENCE. 


LII. 

Fashioned  like  a  form    in    marble  shone 

the  lily  of  her  face, 
Like  a    chapter    from   the    Bible,  it  was 

read  in  every  place  ; 
Fixed    in    deep    and     serious  sweetness, 

passionate  with  self-control, 
So  she  swept,  a  sweet  enchantress,  through 

the  portal  of  my  soul. 


SILENCE. 


LIII. 

Every    word  she  spake  was  fitted  like  a 

gesture  to  her  hand, 
Every  look  at  her  was  like  a  visit  to  a 

foreign  land ; 
She  was  fair,  and  still  I  count  her  as  the 

mould  of  all  her  race; 
She  was  fair,  and   still  I    hold    it  least, 

I  looked  her  in  the  face. 


SILENCE. 


LIV. 

Swiftly  then  I  clasped    her  spirit  closely 

in  my  larger  thought, 
She  to  all  my  life  was  likened    she  to  ail 

my  love  was  wrought; 
Soon  for  me  that  sweet  face  vanished,  soon 

I  saw  that  form  depart, 
But  her  love  becomes  an    angel    in  the 

heaven  of  my  heart. 


SILENCE. 


61 


Oft  there  rises  one  before  me  with  a  calm 

and  constant  eye, 
And  she  lifts  her   warning  finger,  points 

my  darkened  path  on  high ; 
O,    invisible    atonement!    stretching  o'er 

the  gulfs  of  space, 
Spirit   witnessing  to  Spirit,  what    to  this 

were  voice — were  fa^e  ! 


62 


SILENCE. 


LVI. 

Now,  by   that    unchanging    river  and  by 

that  untelling  sun, 
Where  we    used   to    walk   together  often 

when  the  day  was  done, 
Still  the  woodbine  and  the  willow  love  in 

sisterhood  to  grow, 
But  we  parted,  where  their  shadows  wed 

our  spirits  long  ago. 


SILENCE. 


63 


LVIL 

Waft  her  white  soul  up  to  heaven  for  a 

truce  to  sin  and  time, 
Waft   her,  winds,  beyond   the  mountain, 

where  the  white  cloud  loves  to  climb  ; 
Sweeps  the  soul  with  wing  unbroken,  bolted 

past,  and  massive  wall, 
Not  until  the  door  was  shut,  that  Christ 

stood  in  the  banquet-hall. 


64 


SILENCE. 


LVIII. 

I  shall  slumber,  but  it  recks  not  where  my 

lonely  grave  be  made, 
Whether  you  and  I  together  in  a  kindred 

ground  are  laid  : 
I   shall    slumber,    but    it    recks    not  who 

shall  touch  me  in  the  gloom, 
Twins,  that  sleep  within  the  cradle,  are  not 

twins  within  the  tomb. 


SILENCE. 


65 


LIX. 

Soon  this  heart  shall  stop  its  beating,  but 

its  reddened  dust  shall  rise; 
I  shall  live  in  other  faces,  I  shall  look  in 

other  eyes  : 
Toss  the  winecup  to  the  wassail,  riot  in 

the  winds  that  rave, 
There  is  rest  within  the  cradle,  there  is 

none  within  the  ^rave. 


66 


SILENCE. 


LX. 

Wings  are  growing  on  the  restless  eagle 
ot  the  migrant  soul, 

Soon  its  strong,  imprisoned  pinions  shall 
bound  up  to  God — its  goal : 

Without  wing-beat,  without  motion,  pois- 
ing in  the  clear  "  I  Am," 

Poising  in  the  shadowy  eyry  of  God's 
high  colossal  cann. 


SILENCE, 


67 


LXI. 

Thus  it  happened,  as  I  wandered  often  on 

the  whitened  cliff, 
While  the  moon  hung  o'er  the  mountain, 

moored  there  like  a  crescent-skiff, 
That  my  memory   shone  within  me  o  er 

the  Ocean  of  the  years, 
And  I  saw  through  all  my  lifetime  refluent 

waves  of  smiles  and  tears. 


68 


SILENCE. 


LXII. 

Like  a  breath  upon  a  bugle,  when  its  silver 

echo  thrills 
All    among  the  answering  mountains,  all 

about  the  whispering  hills; 
Like  a  bird  within  a  forest,  when  it  tweaks 

a  little  song, 
Till  the  whole  deep  wood  is  haunted  with 

the  music  of  a  throng. 


SILENCE. 


69 


LXIII. 

All    things    yet  shall  work  together,  and 

so  working  orb  in  one, 
As  the  sun  draws  back  its  sunbeams,  when 

the  dial-day  is  done: 
All  things  yet  shall  gather  roundly,  and 

unite,  and  shape,  and  climb, 
Into  Truth's  great  golden  unit,  in  the  ripe 

result  of  time. 


7o 


SILENCE. 


LXIV. 

Wisdom  ripens  unto  silence  as  she  grows 

more  truly  wise, 
And   she  wears  a  mellow  sadness,  in  her 

heart,  and  in  her  eyes  : 
Wisdom  ripens  unto  silence,  and  the  lesson 

she  doth  teach, 
Is  that  life  is  more  than  language,  and  that 

thought  is  more  than  speech. 


SILENCE. 


71 


LXV. 

What  to  me  the  proud  traditions  of  a 
philosophic  age, 

If  they  dwarf  the  growth  of  progress  sneer- 
ing at  a  recent  page? 

What  to  me  the  reverent  teachings  that  I 
heard  of  in  my  youth, 

If  they  close  the  last  inquiry  of  my  spirit, 
"  What  is  Truth  ?  " 


72 


SILENCE. 


LXVI. 

What  is  Truth?    Thy  jewelled  finger  points 

like  light,  with  swerveless  trend, 
From  the  Orient  of  knowledge  to  the  path 

that  hath  no  end  : 
What  is  Truth  ?    Religion  ponders,  science 

bends  her  listening  ears  ; 
Through  the  fallow  of  the  Future,  break  the 

seeds  of  silent  years. 


SILENCE.  73 
LXVIT. 

I  was  brought  up  at  the  altar  of  a  mothers 

bended  knee, 
I  was  sprinkled  with  the  baptism  of  her 

tears  that  fell  on  me; 
I  was  born  a  sleeping  orphan  in  a  living 

mother's  arms, 
Never  life  wove  faster  colors,  never  love 

wove  closer  charms. 


74 


SILENCE. 


LXVILI. 

Some  one  told  Christ  that  his  father  and 

his  mother  stood  outside, 
Turned  he  him  to  those  that  quickly  brought 

the  message  and  replied ; 
Say  to  them,  Who  is  my  mother?  And 

upon  his  way  he  trod. 
Not  of  blood  or  bone  begotten,  I  was  born 

the  child  of  God. 


SILENCE.  75 
LXIX. 

Who  am  I  that  I  should  truckle,  puppet 

to  a  low  intent? 
On  God's  errand  I  enlisted,  by  God's  spirit 

I  was  sent  : 
Unseen  hands  of  ordination  upon  all  my 

life  were  laid, 
What  to    this    is   man's  commission?  In 

God's  image  men  are  made. 


76 


SILENCE. 


LXX. 

Faith  is  but  an  idle  canvas,  flapping  on 

an  idle  mast, 
If  it  be  not  found  within  thee  as  the  work 

of  life  at  last : 
Dotaged  faith  is  but  a  fancy,  he  who  waits 

that  dream  is  lost, 
And  his  creed  is  but  a  millstone,  and  his 

God  is  but  a  ghost. 


SILENCE. 


77 


LXXI. 

Very  like  the  soul  is  sleeping  soundly 
underneath  the  sod, 

Very  like  the  soul  is  walking  softly  over- 
head with  God ; 

Likelihood  alone  is  certain.  Who  shall 
speak  while  God  is  dumb  ? 

Credent  doubt  is  but  the  shadow  of  the 
larger  faith  to  come. 


78 


SILENCE. 


LXXII. 

Go  to  Silence.     Win  her  secret,  she  shall 

teach  thee  how  to  speak 
Shape  to  which  all  else  is  shadow  grows 

within  thee  clear,  and  bleak; 
Go  to  Silence.    She  shall  teach  thee  ;  ripe 

fruit  hangs  within  thy  reach, 
He  alone  hath  clearly  spoken,  who  hath 

learned  this.    Thought  is  Speech. 


SILENCE. 


79 


LXXIII. 

O  thou  strong  and  sacred  silence,  self- 
contained  in  self-control, 

O  thou  palliating  silence,  Sabbath  art 
thou  of  the  soul : 

Lie  like  snow  upon  my  virtues,  lie  like 
dust  upon  my  faults, 

Silent  when  the  world  dethrones  me,  silent 
when  the  world  exalts. 


8o 


SILENCE, 


LXXIV. 

Tamper  not  with  idle  rumor,  lest  the  truth 

appear  to  lie, 
Carve  thy   life   to   hilted    silence,  wrong 

shall  fall  on  it,  and  die: 
Tamper  not  with  accusation,  harvest  not 

what  thou  hast  heard, 
Christ  stood  in  the  court  of  Pilate,  but  he 

answered  not  a  word. 


SILENCE,  6k 
LXXV. 

Know  thou  this  that  there  is  nothing  in 

the  sounding  lists  of  strife, 
That   so    fortifies    thy    manhood    as  the 
argument  of  life  : 
Listen  not   to  old  wives'  fables/'  draw 
thyself  from  such  apart, 
Keep  the  thought  of  life,  like  Mary,  virgin 
to  a  virgin's  heart. 
6 


SILENCE. 


LXXVI. 

Prattle  is  the  children's  portion,  gossip  is 

the  prate  of  fools, 
Talk  is  but  a  blundering  error,  truth  shall 

work  with  sharper  tools  : 
Shallow  sentiments  that  bubble,  bubble  on 

the  froth  of  thought, 
Clearer    crystals    of    conception    by  the 

undercurrent  wrought. 


SILENCE. 


83 


LXXVII. 

Louder  than  the   blast   of   bugle,  louder 

than  the  beat  of  drum, 
Sounds  the    clarion    of   conscience    to  a 

spirit  overcome: 
Louder  than  the   crashing   boulder  down 

its  precipice  doth  roll, 
Slides  the  avalanche    of  sorrow,  through 
the  winter  of  the  soul. 


*4 


SILENCE. 


LXXVIII. 

I  have  seen  an  eagle  standing  in  the  full- 
orbed  sun  at  noon, 

I  have  seen  a  bird  drift  darkly  up  across 
the  midnight  moon  ; 

I  have  seen  a  spirit  passing  over  in  the 
deepening  eye, 

Too  far  off  to  hear  its  music,  like  the  bird 
within  the  sky. 


SILENCE. 


*5 


LXXIX. 

What  shall  sorrow  say  to  sorrow  like  to 

tears  that  fall  unsaid? 
For  as  life  is  to  the  living,  so  is  death  unto 

the  dead : 

Sympathy  shall  sit  before  thee  seven  days 

mutely  on  the  ground, 
Sorrow  is  a  voice  too  tender  to  be  drowned 

by  ruder  sound. 


86 


SILENCE. 


LXXX. 

It  is  well  for  us  to  suffer,  it  is  well  for  us 
to  wait, 

Well  to  swing  like  little  children  all  our  life 

on  death's  loose  gate; 
Well  to  feel  a  mortal  sickness  wean  the  soul 

from  earthly  spell, 
Well  to  hear  when  all  is  over  that  sweet 

whisper,  "  All  is  well." 


SILENCE. 


37 


LXXXI. 

God  hath  set  all  things  in  being  sliding  out 
of  sound  and  sight, 

Dropping  down  to  mighty  death  dust  in  the 
marble  Urn  of  night ; 

Blessed  sacrament  of  Silence,  holy  shadow- 
sphere  of  rest, 

On  thy  scroll  forever  fading  like  a  smoulder- 
ing  palimpsest. 


88 


SILENCE. 


LXXXII. 

Deepening    in     thy    sad    sweet  stillness 

round  the  burning  deeds  of  wrong, 
Hushing    back    the  clamoring  judgments 

of  a  vast  unreckoned  throng  ; 
Soothing  o'er  the  cry  of  sorrow,  drying  up 

the  blood  of  pain, 
With  thy  finger  on  the  lip  of  cares,  that 

now  no  more  complain. 


SILENCE. 


LXXXIII. 

Still  across  the  Eden  woodlands  slide  the 

birds  in  summer  flock, 
Pawing  horse,  and  tawny  panther,  cataract, 

and  thunder-shock: 
Still  the  blow  that  Cain  struck  Abel  falleth 

through  the  quivering  air, 
3n  the  head  of  every   creature,  echoing 

Death— Death— everywhere. 


9° 


SILENCE. 


LXXXIV. 

Buried    cities,    stranded    navies,  crashing 

battles,  ravening  storms, 
Echo  in  the  thirsty  ether,  and  with  sounds 

the  still  air  swarms : 
On  its  burial  field  of  centuries  quiet  like 

the  night  doth  fall, 
Silence!   Keep  thy  vigilled  bivouac,  with 

the  sweet  stars  over  all. 


SILENCE. 


91 


LXXXV. 

Silence  is  the  voice  of  Spirit,  silence  is  the 

voice  of  God, 
Since  he  said;  "go,  preach  my  gospel"  he 

hath  never  spoken  word: 
Many  a  power   since   then  hath  perished, 

many  a  charm  hath  lost  its  spell, 
But  that  ever  silent  Spirit  still  on  earth  is 

ruling  well. 


92 


SILENCE. 


LXXXVI. 

44  There  was  silence  up  in  heaven  for  the 

space  of  half  an  hour," 
And  the  angel  held  his  harp-string  standing 

in  the  jasper  door: 
And  the    lights    blew    out    in  darkness, 

strangely,  sadly,  one  by  one, 
And    the  sun  stood  still  on  Gibeon,  and 

the  moon  on  Ajalon. 


SILENCE. 


93 


LXXXVII. 

"It    is   finished!"    "Father,    hear  me!" 

"  Why  hast  Thou  forsaken  me  ?  " 
But  around  him  Silence  gathered,  silently, 

how  silently : 
"  If  it  were  not  so  I  would  have  told  you," 

sounds  upon  my  ear, 
Splendid  silence,  thou  hast  told  me  more 

than  souls  in  heaven  may  hear. 


94 


SILENCE. 


LXXXVIII. 

Subtle  secret  without  solving  since  the 
years  were  in  their  youth, 

Staring  like  the  Sphinx  forever  from  the 
trackless  sands  of  truth: 

Bright  Apocalypse  of  vision  dark  Apoc- 
rypha of  cloud. 

Silence  something  more  than  stillness 
thinking  to  itself  aloud. 


SILENCE. 


95 


LXXXIX. 

Still  I  wandered  for  the  last  time  on  the 

sliding  beach,  apart, 
Solacing  the  widening  lesion  of  an  unre- 

turning  heart : 
Saw  the  creamy  sail  dip  brightly  far  behind 

the  silver  wave, 
Saw  the  moon  drop  down  the  heaven  to 

its  coral-coffined  grave. 


96 


SILENCE. 


xc. 

Dips  the  white  sail  of  my  spirit  down  the 

trending  sea  of  death, 
Silent  sea  without  a  ripple,  save  the  ripple 

of  a  breath  : 
Moving  out  for  pass  or  shipwreck,  without 

signal,  gun,  or  light. 
To    the   phantom-pilot   rounding    on  the 

misty  Reef  of  night. 


SILENCE. 


97 


XCI. 

Still   my  faith  will  take  the  hand  ot  him 

whose  form  I  cannot  trace, 
As  I  take  your  hand  in  darkness  though 

I  cannot  see  your  face  • 
Sit    down  by  the  side  of  God  in  heaven 

with  rapture  deep  and  wild, 
As  T  sat  down  by  my  mother  when  j  ^ 

a  little  chilH 


98 


SILENCE. 


XCII. 

Softly  like  a  meteor  falling  drops  the  tear 

that  Jesus  wept, 
On  the  human  tear  beneath  it,  in  the  heart 

that  Christ  hath  kept  : 
Creature  in  Creator  meeting,  crystallizing 
into  one, 

/vs   stalactite   meets    stalagmite,  standing 
pillared  where  they  run. 


SILENCE.  9g 
XCIII. 

Steals  a  rich  and  dreamy  sombre  on  the 

landscape,  overworn, 
Comes    a  crimson  on  the  aster,  comes  a 

purple  on  the  thorn  ; 
Shadows,  lost  like  orphan-children,  scattered 

lie  on  lake  and  lea, 
Many    a  wan  and  weary  spirit  longs  for 
silence,  and  for  thee. 


IOO 


SILENCE. 


XCIV. 

On  the  doorstep    of   my    dwelling  leaves' 

are  falling  like  a  prayer, 
Little  tracts  from  heaven,  left  there  by  the 

angel  of  the  air  : 
Read  the  leaf  and  learn  the  lesson,  silent 

Voice  to  you  and  me, 
Like  the  leaf  I  too  shall  wither,  with  the 

leaf  I  soon  shall  be. 


SILENCE. 


101 


xcv. 

Fall  around  me  feathery  silence,  fall  around 

me  as  I  faint, 
Heaven's  casement-curtains   closing  softly 

round  the  dying  saint : 
Shades    of  faintness   coming  o'er  me,  as 

Death's  iron  gates  unroll, 
With  the  famine  in  my  face,  but  with  the 

harvest  in  my  soul. 


I02 


SILENCE. 


XCVI. 

Turn  me  on    my  fevered  pillow,  for  the 

night  is  turning  too, 
I  will  bolster  up  my  courage,  I  will  see 

what  death  can  do  : 
Death  whose  spectre  stalks  so  coldly,  what 

is  death?  (we  do  thee  wrong) 
But    life  stopping  in  its  singing,  to  take 

breath  for  endless  song. 


SILENCE. 


103 


XCVII. 

Do  not  weep.    I  will  not   leave  you.  I 

will  never,  never  change, 
I  will  try,  but  if  I  cannot  speak,  you  must 

not  think  it  strange  ; 
Don't  you  think   God's    everlasting  arms 

are  put  round  you  and  me? 
And  I    know    somewhere    between  them, 

that  the  Gate  of  heaven  will  be. 


104 


SILENCE. 


XCVIIL 

At  the  center  of  Creation  lies  a  spot  of 

ceaseless  rest, 
Where  the  silent  spirit    broodeth    like  a 

dove  upon  its  nest : 
Round  it  runs  the  deep  horizon  in  its  golden 

quiet  curled, 
Round  it  at  the  wheel  of  Motion  spins  the 

fashion  of  the  world. 


SILENCE. 


105 


XCIX. 

Noiselessly  thy  gates  swing  open  for  their 

bars  are  made  of  light, 
Swinging  on  the  raven  darkness  from  the 

outer-wall  of  night ; 
Crystal    city    of  the  Silent,  built  beyond 

the  sounds  of  sin, 
Lift  afar  your  swarming  gateways  let,  the 

silent  myriads  in. 


io6 


SILEXCE. 


Ever  after  mortal  effort,  ever  after  mortal 

pains, 

Something  to  which  light  is  shadow,  some- 
thing unexpressed  remains  : 

Ever  after  human  question,  ever  after 
human  quest, 

Something  farther  than  the  farthest,  some- 
thing  better  than  the  Best. 


SILENCE. 


107 


CI. 

God  shall  keep  the  growing  secret  of  the 

silence  in  his  heart, 
Through  the  crescent  years  of  Knowledge, 

through  the  golden  days  of  Art : 
Silent  heart  whose  birthless  beatings  throb 

so  softly  in  their  place, 
That  God  cannot  hear  himself,  in  all  the 
continent  of  Space. 


"THE  INVISIBLE  TRAVELLER. 

And  other  Poems. 


A  NEW  BOOK  BY  THE  SAME  AUTHOR. 

And  one  which  has  been  pronounced,  by  eminent  English 
Literary  authority,  of  the  same  remarkable  order  as 
"  Silence."  Is  in  press  and  will  be  issued  immediately. 
Martin  F.  Tupper,  Lord  Houghton,  and  others,  pronounce 
it,  over  their  own  signatures,  "A  Magnificent  Poem." 
Plain,   81.00.    Illustrated,  $2.00. 

Also  by  the  same  author  a  new  Poem  entitled 

ST.  PAUL, 

Price,  75  cts. 
Mailed  free,  on  receipt  of  price,  by  the  publisher, 

D.  S.  HOLMES, 

89  Fourth  St.,  Brooklyn,  E.  D. 


GREENWOOD, 


A  Beautiful  Poem  in  One  Volume. 


The  second  publication  of  the  same  author,  published 
since  "Silence."  A  selection  of  which  appears  at  length  in 
Longfellow's  "Poems  of  Places."  This  poem  has  shared 
the  s  ime  literary  respect  so  universally  shown  to  "'Silence." 
Bound  in  uniform  style  with  "Silence."  In  Muslin,  plain, 
$1.00;  Illustrated,  full  gilt,  bevel  boards,  $2.00.  Either 
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Address  the  Publisher, 

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